During the Sivananda Ashram Sadhana Week, which was held in September 1991 prior to his
75th birth anniversary, H.H. Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj was asked to give a series of
lectures on the philosophy and practice of the Bhagavad Gita. In this series, Swamiji
concentrated on the first three chapters and this core portion of the lectures is now
being offered to the reading public under the title "The Gita Vision."

Over the years, in his talks given throughout India and the world, revered Swamiji has
constantly quoted from the Gita. Years of reflecting over its message, and, still more
important, putting its precepts into practice in his own life, has made this scripture
into a living reality for him. As a result, the message and vision of the first three
chapters of the Gita, delivered in Swamiji's unique style, had a profound impact upon the
attentive audience.

We believe that this inspiring message and vision will be of equal benefit to all
devotees of the Gita, who, after reading this booklet, will return to the Gita with a
fresh appreciation of its timely and life-giving message.

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita contains the quintessence of the wisdom of the Vedas.
Therefore, one who has understood the Gita has understood the essence of the Vedas.
Gurudev, Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, insisted that you should get a knowledge of the
Bhagavad Gita. For then you will get a knowledge of yourself, and of how to overcome
dejection, despair, hopelessness and a total breakdown of self-confidence by determining
to follow the instructions of the Divine, by fulfilling God's Will in your life. You will
know how to overcome attachment, delusion and faint-heartedness, to cast them aside and to
stand up and engage in self-culture and self-mastery.

The Gita starts in defeatism but ends in victory. The final verse firmly affirms
victory and fulfilment. The Gita begins with Arjuna's unwillingness to face the call of
life, the call of duty. He says: "I would much rather take a beggar's bowl and wander
over the earth than engage in battle." And when Krishna starts to correct him, he
tries to argue with Krishna and prove Him wrong. Arjuna tells Krishna that He is asking
him to do something very seriously wrong and sinful that will have dire consequences. But
Krishna makes him realise that what he thinks to be a wise understanding about life has at
its bottom deluded attachment, moha. And once Arjuna says, "I now realise that
I have been thinking in a wrong manner, I shall follow Your teaching, please teach
me," then everything proceeds well. Even in the midst of the battle, when Arjuna is
unable to withstand the onslaught of Bhishma, Krishna Himself takes up a wheel of the
chariot, rathanga, as His chakra.

So, once you pledge obedience to the Divine Will, the Divine never lets you down. It
helps you even in the direst of circumstances. Even when defeat seems to be one hundred
percent sure, the Divine will not allow you to be defeated. It fights on your behalf,
takes up arms, because your pledge for obedience is complete. And to one who has thus
pledged total obedience to the Lord's Will, there is no defeat. It is all victory.

The very incident of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita is an indication of what life should be,
in what manner it should be lived. That is, we should allow the Divine to guide the
chariot of our life. Throughout the Gita, the position of Lord Krishna is of one who
guides Arjuna's chariot. The chariot of life, throughout this great battle, is guided by
Lord Krishna. Arjuna only goes on doing his duty, fulfilling his kartavya karma. It
is Krishna Who takes the chariot wherever it is right for Him to take it.

This is the very clear indication of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita incident, the episode and
the outcome. It is a clear indication to the seeker who is sincerely dedicated to the
divine ideal to allow the Divine Will to guide him throughout, until victory is attained
and victory is proclaimed.

If you look at the Gita in this way, then you will understand it in a totally different
way. You will know what its teachings mean to you personally as seekers engaged in the
battle of life and as seekers who have to somehow overcome and attain the supreme Goal.
You will understand its relevance to yourself. And thus understanding, the benefit you
derive from the Gita will be totally different. It will be of practical spiritual benefit.

May Lord Krishna's grace enable you to understand the Gita in this intimate, personal
way and be benefited by it, so that you attain the Goal Supreme!

The philosophy of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita is the philosophy of the Upanishads put into
practice. It is also an Upanishad in the form of a prescription for tapatraya and bhavaroga
(the threefold afflictions of man and the disease of transmigration). The philosophy
of the Gita is a philosophy of shaking away weakness and bondage to darkness and
ignorance, a philosophy of liberating yourself from "I and mine" and
attachments, of being bold and brave enough to see the truth as it is, and then commencing
once again the journey towards the ultimate state of a liberated consciousness.

It is the practice of the Gita that gradually removes from one's interior the ignorance
of the reality of our situation. The sadhana of the Gita is the time-honoured
methods evolved, formulated, perfected and handed down to us as the great science of Yoga.
But it goes a step further. The sadhana of the Gita is also a prescription suited
to each and every individual. It is an integrated sadhana of karma, bhakti,
dhyana and jnana. Overemphasis is not laid upon any one. All are important. All
have to be synthesised. But, most important, they all have to be put into practice in
daily life.

The practice of the Bhagavad Gita is not in a hermitage nor in a secluded place aloof
from mankind; it is not in a forest where the Upanishads were realised and put down for
our benefit. The sadhana of the Gita is commensurate with your life itself. The Gita-sadhana
is not something to be separated from life; it is something which has to be made part
and parcel of life. Gita-sadhana and right living are synonymous. Right living is Gita-sadhana.
Gita-sadhana is right living. Gita-sadhana and life are to go together hand in
hand and become one. They have to merge into one.

That is the type of life that will ultimately raise you from the delusion of
unrealities to the clear perception of the Reality. It is a Gita-pattern of life that will
take you from the darkness of ignorance into the light of supreme divine wisdom. It is
Gita integrated into your practical day-to-day life that will ultimately take you from
death, mortality and bondage to this wheel of rebirth to a supreme realm of immortality
and everlasting eternal life.

The Gita Vision

The philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita is no other than the philosophy of the Upanishads.
But in one respect it has gone a step further, in that the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita
has brought the philosophy of the Upanishads from the forest dwellings of the rishis and
the munis, from the hermitages of tapasvis and sannyasis and has
given it a central place in the home of the grihastha in samsara, in the
market place of vyavahara, worldly life, so that the Gita is upanishad-darsan in
practice. In the Gita we have the Upanishadic wisdom applied. In the Gita we have the
translation of the adesa (command) and sandesa (instruction) of the
Upanishads into daily life. To teach how the Upanishads can actually be practised, how the
Upanishads can be made the basis of our daily life, is the purpose of the Bhagavad Gita.

The philosophy of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita deals with the situation of the individual
pilgrim soul upon this earth plane, in the midst of the very vexing problems that
constitute an inevitable part of the individual's life. It takes the life of the jivatma
in this prapancha, beset by the dvandvas, love and hate, like and
dislike, attachment and repulsion. It takes the life of the jivatma faced with the
situation of an inner, essential conflict between what one would like to do and what one
is required to do, between one's sentiments, emotions and attachments and one's duty in
one's station in life. It takes the life of an individual trying to grapple with this
inner conflict of bhavana (feeling) and kartavya (duty), this inner conflict
of the sreya (good) and the preya (pleasant), this inner conflict of dharma,
which is very difficult, and the easier way.

It provides the necessary strength to the individual by enlightening him with the
hidden reality of the situation. Because of his insufficient understanding, his lack of
proper perspective, the individual takes the situation to be what it appears to be and
does not try to analyse it beyond and behind the surface appearance, nor try to understand
it as it is in essence. He thus takes to a certain course of action which is contrary to
his own highest welfare and supreme good and which is also contrary to the good of the
world in which he lives.

The Gita, by bringing into our antahkarana, into our minds and hearts and
intellects, the light of proper reasoning, correct perception and right understanding,
liberates us from the delusion that brings about such conflicts, such inner two-ways
pulls. When one understands a situation properly and one sees things clearly, one is then
able to understand, to know, what the essence of the situation is in fact, not what it
appears to be. How does the Gita do this?

The philosophy of the Gita is not just a declaration of experienced truth. It is not
merely an expounding of a certain revelation. But, from start to finish, it is dialectic
in its method of approaching this question of the individual in this universe, of his
situation in life and the various problems and conflicts that surround him as he tries to
execute this journey of life. It takes on an approach that is dialectic, in that every
Chapter constitutes the imparting of certain teachings. It is a teacher teaching a
student. It is like a class lesson and the teacher takes great pains to clarify intricate
points and to answer all the questions of the student, to remove all doubts as the student
goes on asking questions and placing doubts before him.

Therefore, the philosophy of the Gita is an educative process of bringing the
individual soul from a state of wrong understanding, a state of a mixed-up interior, a
state of confusion, into a higher state of right understanding, a clarity of perception
and vision and a very clear interior. The episode of the Gita sets the stage for this
educative process of a teacher teaching one with lesser knowledge. In this process, the
teacher attempts to lift the student up into the state of a fullness of knowledge that
characterises the teacher himself. The teacher makes the student see through the teacher's
eyes; whereas, before, the student was trying to look at things only through his own eyes.

The stage is set in such a way that Arjuna, the leader of the army of the Pandavas in
the immanent Mahabharata war (the purpose of which was to decide conclusively whether adharma
would go on prevailing absolutely unchecked or whether ultimately it was to be
uprooted and dharma established) became the occasion for the Gita teachings. For,
at this juncture, this chief, the prince and warrior Arjuna, the principal personality
there, falls into a state of terrible inner conflict. He is overcome by numerous emotions
and comes to a state bordering on a total collapse of his entire being_physically,
physiologically and psychologically.

Physically, Arjuna becomes incapable of even standing. He is overcome by great fear and
confusion. And the symptoms of this acute inner state, this psychological state of stress,
of tension and terrible conflict, manifests as palpitation of his heart, profuse
perspiration, trembling in all his limbs, drying up of his tongue, parching of his throat,
tears welling up from his eyes and dizziness. The world is spinning round. He is not able
to stand and his bow slips from his hand and falls to the ground. He himself also falls to
the ground, because in this state of physical collapse brought about by a nervous
breakdown, by an acute intensity of emotional conflict that has gone beyond a certain
stage of toleration, his legs are not able to carry him anymore. There is a total
breakdown, psychological, physiological and physical.

It is only when a person is in greatest danger that he begins to shout and call for
help: "Help! Help! Help! Save me! Save me! If you do not save me, I am lost!" In
that state of dire extremity, he looks for someone to come and rescue him. He calls aloud
and is prepared to do anything, because he wants to save himself_"Whatever you say, I
will do." When one's resources are completely at an end and one realises one's
absolutely helpless state, then, like a man drowning, knowing he can no longer rely upon
himself or save himself, one reaches up and calls out for help from the outside.

In this way, perhaps certain heavy sorrows, extremely dire situations, catastrophes or
calamities become the turning point of one's life. From a feeling of self-sufficiency,
from a basic egoistical arrogance of feeling that one is capable of doing everything in
this world, one comes into a sudden realisation that here is something which one cannot
face.

As long as the jivatma is in a state of, as they say "hypervitaminosis
I," an oversupply of the vitamin "I", ahamkara (egoism), the jivatma
is lost, because ahamkara is the first product of avidya or ajnana. It
contains the essence of individuality. And this individuality is a state of alienation
from one's eternal oneness, one's unity with the Divine Reality. And this state of
alienation from our divine Source, our divine cosmic Origin, which deprives us completely
of the awareness of our essential svarupa as amsas (parts) of the supreme paramatman,
is the root cause of all the tapatrayas (sufferings or afflictions) of samsara
and prapancha (worldly life).

If you wish to commence your liberation from total bondage in this net of ahamkara and
mamakara (I-ness and mine-ness), attachment, selfishness and an identification with
these inner principles of a separate, finite, little ego-personality, then the first thing
needful is to realise and recognise the insufficiency of this little ego-principle, which
up till that moment was to you the centre of your universe, the most important and
precious thing in the world, the dearest thing, for which, to protect its interest, you
have been prepared to fight with anyone.

When this ego-principle is recognised in its true colours, that it, as a matter of
fact, constitutes your real problem, that it is the factor that holds you in thraldom, in
bondage, then you realise that if you rely upon it, you will ultimately be left in the
lurch. When that realisation begins to dawn and you start looking up for a higher Being, a
higher Power to take you out of this predicament which has been brought about by giving
over-importance to the ego, then commences your liberation.

Thus the all-knowing Lord-of all existence, anantakoti brahmanda nayaka prabhu
bhagavan (God, the Lord and the Ruler of millions and billions of universes), Who is
the inner prompter, sarvantaryami, in order to give the highest wisdom teachings
for all mankind, brings about this conflict situation and puts Arjuna into a fix, like
Hamlet, not knowing what to do.

Arjuna actually does know what he has to do; he has come fully prepared for it. But
suddenly, when the attachments of the sentimental and emotional aspect of his personality
begin to invade his consciousness and begin to overcome him, overwhelm him, then he finds
himself in a terrible fix. Suddenly there is this clash between the clear thinking
intelligence, the rational aspect of Arjuna, and the overwhelming and very powerful
emotional and sentimental aspect of Arjuna. And the sentimental aspect of Arjuna is now
trying to undo everything. And in this state of fix, not able to decide what to do, this
normally clear thinking young prince, who had come with no doubts about what he had to do
that day, cries aloud for help. They say: "Man's extremity is God's
opportunity."

And so, the Gita jnana-upadesa starts from this human situation: the ultimate
extremity of a helpless individual calling for intervention from the Divine. And the
Divine speaks and says: "What is this that has happened to you? This is the time for viveka
and vichara, not sentiment, bhavana. There is a maryada (social
norm) of every given situation, a time and a place. And at this time, the maryada requires
that you must exercise your discrimination, your right thought, your viveka and vichara.
This is not a time for indulging in sentiment. Your heart has given way to a
completely wrong factor in your personality make-up. That factor has no business here.
Intruding at a time and place which is not its territory, it is working havoc with you; it
has taken away your strength. Vichara, viveka, determination and will-power
constitute the strength of an individual. Silly sentiment, uncontrollable emotion,
constitute a weakness of an individual." Therefore the Lord uses the word hridaya
daurbalya (weakness of heart). "This is not the right thing. Stop it! Give up
this inner weakness. Stand up and fight! Be strong!"

That too is the call of the Upanishads: na-ayam atma balahinena labhyah (This
Atman cannot be attained by one who is destitute of strength). And this morning
Mahamandalesvar Sri Swami Vidyanandaji Maharaj spoke about the necessity of strength,
heroism, if you are going to confront the undesirable aspects of your own nature and
refuse to yield to their pull. Because Lord Brahma put an extra portion of rajo guna into
the antahkarana of the jivatman, man's mind and senses are all outgoing, and
to go against this very elemental aspect of one's nature requires some special strength.
Only such special strength can enable you to dive inward where you can see the Self, the
immortal, eternal, imperishable Self, and attain supreme bliss and immortality.

And so we see that Arjuna's deep grief and anxiety, his nervous breakdown and physical
collapse, put Lord Krishna into a temporary dilemma, so to speak. Arjuna, the redoubtable,
renowned warrior prince, having requested Krishna to assist him in the war by being his
charioteer, is now behaving in this most unwarrior-like way. To make matters still more
embarrassing, the prince had come with a great determination to join battle with the
opposing forces of the Kauravas and just a few minutes before, with this intention and
determination, he had asked Krishna to take the chariot right to the middle of the
battlefield in between the two opposing forces. Thus whatever is now taking place between
Himself and Arjuna is being witnessed by everyone on both sides. And they must be
wondering what the matter is! Arjuna is no longer in the chariot. He is there on the
ground and he seems to be in some peculiar state of agitation. He is making gestures and
looking up to Krishna and then bowing his head.

Krishna must be feeling: "What is this? If this had happened when we were still
behind the battle lines, or at least in the midst of the Pandavas, it would have been
somewhat better. At least they would have somehow or other looked upon this with sympathy
and understanding, not with scorn. But now, here we are in front of the enemy forces, and
this has happened. Very embarrassing! I have promised to take him into the battlefield for
battle and here he is saying, 'I won't fight.'"

For the moment, as it were, humanly speaking, Krishna was taken aback, nonplussed. He
asks Arjuna: "What has happened to you? What is the matter? A little while ago you
were full of spirit, full of mettle, and now, in one moment, you have come to this abject
condition. From where has this type of mood come? It is not supposed to be in you. You are
a warrior, a young person, a hero. You are courageous, renowned for your prowess and
valour. And now this! What has happened to you? This sudden yielding to a negative quality
of fear, of anxiety, of cowardice, of wanting to run away from your duty, is unbecoming of
you."

Why does Krishna, the great World Teacher and very close friend of Arjuna, take such a
seemingly unsympathetic attitude towards His very dear friend? They have been close
companions, living together, eating together, and joking together with great familiarity,
and yet Krishna rebukes him sharply. He does not seem to be at all inclined to be
sympathetic with him. He does not make any attempt to understand him. Instead, He says:
"What is this? Are you not ashamed? Get up!" These are not words of sympathy
from a friend. Why is He so very sharp, a little intolerant even, impatient, with Arjuna?
He has full reason to be.

The reason is not far to seek. It is more or less the same way as a Guru is sometimes
very sharp, very unsympathetic and impatiently angry with a disciple. He will never act
this way with a new disciple, with one who has been recently admitted into his fold, who
has not had the opportunity to be in close contact with him and to imbibe, over a long
period of time, his upadesa and adesa (teachings and instructions). But, he
will act this way with a disciple who has been living with him for years and years and who
has had the opportunity over a long period of time to be in constant contact with him, to
have heard his upadesa a hundred times and yet in spite of this behaves in a
different manner.

So, in effect, Lord Krishna says: "Have all my efforts on you been wasted? Is that
what you are trying to demonstrate now, that your association with Me, your discipleship,
and all that I have tried to teach you is so much waste, useless? Has it been of no value,
that you demonstrate this foolish behaviour at this point in your career?" For,
through thick and thin, rain and shine, ups and downs, good fortune and misfortune, Arjuna
had long been in contact with Lord Krishna. And this contact had not only brought forth
Lord Krishna's wisdom teachings to Arjuna but also to Kunti, Draupadi and all the Pandava
brothers.

For a discerning and wise person, something said once should be enough. Perhaps due to
a weakness of memory he may forget the first time, but if it is said twice, then that
should be enough. It is only impossible people who will never imbibe it, no matter how
many times you give them good advice. But the Pandavas were not like that. They were sattvic
people. They valued the company of Lord Krishna. They valued His teachings. But in
spite of that, at this juncture, when all the satsang and sravana that
Arjuna had done should have come to his aid and helped him, he was acting like this!

Life after life, the jiva comes into this earth plane to progress in knowledge,
expand in wisdom, to learn, to educate itself. Each life span is an opportunity given by
God for it to learn, sometimes the easy way, sometimes the hard way, but always to learn.
Gurudev used to say that this world is a great university for evolution into divine
perfection. Life is the great teacher. All the experiences one encounters in life are an
educative process. They come with lessons, valuable lessons. Nothing is empty of valuable
content.

Therefore, God Himself will become impatient when He has constantly tried to teach the jiva
in so many ways, life after life, and still the jiva manifests obduracy and an
asinine obstinacy by refusing to imbibe that which is placed before it. Then God says:
"No, this is not good enough. Therefore, through knocks and blows I will make this jiva
wake up, learn, become wise and strive for its own highest good, supreme
welfare."

But Arjuna was a Pandava, not a Kaurava. He was an uttama adhikari (best
qualified aspirant). Yet, in this situation, when the situation calls for action, it is
Arjuna who says: "I would much rather take up a begging bowl, turn into a mendicant
and live by begging, than rule over a kingdom obtained after so much bloodshed and the
killing of my relatives." As though he had not known all along that the opposing
Kaurava forces were his relatives! This is what happens when sentiment takes over the area
that is the proper territory of the viveka and vichara of the buddhi.

The place where the Gita advice is being given to Arjuna is a field of action. It is
Kurukshetra. In Sanskrit, kuru means do, act. And instead of acting, Arjuna says:
"I won't act. I won't fight. I will go away." He wants to run away from action.
And when Krishna the great World Teacher, the Divine Teacher, tries to tell him, "Now
you must engage in action, you must do your duty, you must fight," Arjuna, refusing
to understand, finds fault with Krishna's advice and says: "No, no, no! It is wrong
action. I don't agree."

Then Krishna tells him: "This idea of yours is because of your lack of knowledge;
it is because of your ignorance. You are adducing arguments like a lawyer in a court of
law. You are trying to argue with Me, but yet your mind is full of confusion and
ignorance. That is why you are refusing to act. You think that you are going to kill
someone. Who can kill whom? Do you know? These beings whom you, with your sthula
drishti, gross outer vision, characterised by unknowing and ignorance, think to be
perishable beings whom you will destroy, do you know what they really are? They are
immortal, imperishable, eternal. Weapons cannot injure them, fire cannot burn them, water
cannot wet them, wind cannot dry them. They are unborn, eternal, beyond time. Who are you
to say that you are going to kill something which is imperishable and immortal? One who
says that he is killing someone or one who thinks that he is being killed, both of them
are in ignorance. The Reality never ceases to be. And the unreal is never really there; it
is only an appearance; it never exists. To think that you are sending something unreal out
of existence is ignorance. So, first of all, clear your brain of avidya, this ajnana.
Have clear perception, know properly, understand properly. Then let us see whether you
talk about killing, destroying, and all that."

Therefore, Lord Krishna, first and foremost, brings Arjuna to an awareness of his
ignorance. He says: "O Arjuna, listen, this tendency of yours to run away from action
is not the answer to your dilemma and your problem. You must open your eyes, have an inner
understanding and see clearly. It is not a question of action and inaction. The wise thing
is to know that there is a third way, which is the right and proper way, and that alone is
the solution and answer to your present situation. And that way is wisdom-filled action.

"For it is ignorance that is making you feel this terrible way, and it is
ignorance that is making you shy away from action. Let Me tell you one thing. Whether you
want to or not, act you must. The very nature of this life on earth, the very nature of
the human individual, is such that the drive to activity is inherent in that nature. And,
whether you want it or not, you are part and parcel of this Cosmic Nature that has brought
manifestation into being. The Cosmic Nature contains within Herself this inaccessible
impulsion to action. Understand this clearly. Forcibly you will be made to engage in
action.

"It is better, therefore, to prefer to act in a wisdom-filled manner and thus
liberate yourself from the consequences of action, than to either engage in foolish action
or foolishly try to give up all action. The choice is not just between the total giving up
of action or acting with ignorance. There is a wise alternative choice, which is to act
with knowledge and understanding. Such action cannot bind the individual. Such action goes
beyond the operation of the law of action and the inevitable experience of the fruits of
action. It is almost like engaging in action, yet being actionless. This is the great
secret of action.

"Therefore, do not think that turning away from action and trying to merely become
a mendicant, trying to go into a life of spiritual quest, a life of meditation and
contemplation, is the only alternative, the only way out. Rather, here and now you have to
elevate action to a higher dimension by bringing into it a clear knowledge of the
realities of the human situation in this universe."

The path of knowledge is an absolutely indispensable must. It is the absence of
knowledge that is the root cause of all sorrow. It is the failure to perceive the
imperishable nature of the human spirit that is the cause of all attachment, grief and
delusion. Without knowledge you will make a total mess of your whole life and reduce
yourself to a miserable predicament.

But then, the acquiring of this right knowledge is not incompatible with engaging in
right activity. They are not mutually opposed to each other; they are not mutually
exclusive of each other. On the contrary, in truth, they have to go hand in hand.
Knowledge has to support and supplement action and all activity should be full of
knowledge.

Knowledge-filled activity and action-oriented knowledge is the message and the sadhana
of the second chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. If in ignorance you engage in
action, you are finished. You are heading for trouble, inviting trouble. And having
theoretical knowledge, if you neglect right action, you will put a stop to your evolution.
Action is God's plan for man for moving towards perfection. Action constitutes the inner
dynamics of human evolution, collective as well as individual.

There is a trite but very wise saying: "To rest is to rust." Action is like
honing something to keep it sharp, incisive. Knowledge blooms forth into experience only
when it is transferred into action, when it is practised. Knowledge is meant to be
practised. And, therefore, if you are not to get caught in the circle of action and
reaction, then action is as necessary for knowledge as knowledge is necessary for right
action. Being in the midst of activity, if you do not want to be bound by activity,
knowledge is the only way. It is the key.

Therefore, Sankhya Yoga and Karma Yoga are not opposed to each other. They are mutually
supportive; they are not incompatible. On the contrary, they are two facets of the one
process of the progressive evolution of the human soul towards the fullest unfoldment of
knowledge through knowledge-infilled activity. The Yogi who thus synthesises within
himself both Sankhya Yoga and Karma Yoga is the real daksha (expert). He is the one
who will succeed.

For, such a Yogi, by elevating normal secular activity into a higher dimension of the
Spirit and transforming it into sublime spiritual activity, thus synthesising karma and
jnana, has learned the art and science of making life itself a process of
liberation. Just as the subdual of all mental vrittis while practising a technique
is termed Yoga, the same Yoga becomes defined as yogah karmasu kausalam (Yoga is
skill in action) when one is in the field of active day-to-day living. You act with the
awareness that the three gunas are doing their dharma; whereas I, the trigunatita
atma tattva (Self beyond the three gunas), am really nishkriya (actionless).
"I am the silent, detached, unaffected witness of all activity. How can action bind
me! But I am not a passive witness. I shine my wisdom upon all the limbs, all thoughts,
and thus illumined with wisdom, they engage in action."

This second stage in the unfoldment of the Gita upadesa brings to us another
great home truth: "Look here, O jivatma, no matter what you do, you cannot
avoid action, because you are part of prakriti and prakriti has an excessive
share of rajo guna. She will drive you to activity. You cannot escape it. Even if
you think, 'I am not doing any action,' even if you seemingly sit quietly, thousands of
processes are constantly going on within your own anatomy and physiology. Cells are dying
and being eliminated and new cells are being formed. Blood is coursing through your
arteries and veins. Your heart is pumping this blood and your lungs are ever supplying
fresh oxygen to purify it. Every internal mechanism is actively engaged in doing its
function-your liver, spleen, kidneys, bladder, stomach, all your organs. Without action
you will not even be able to keep alive.

"When you think you are not acting, you are breathing. Breathing is also action.
When you think you are not acting, the mind is busy thinking a hundred things, remembering
a hundred things, planning and scheming a hundred things, imagining a hundred things. How
can you say that you are not acting? You are acting in so many ways. You deny activity
only when it comes to action that you have to engage in as part of your kartavya karma (duty).
This is either foolishness or hypocrisy. Therefore, realise this fact well: As long as you
are in this universe of prakriti, you cannot avoid action. It is better, therefore,
to act wisely than to act foolishly."

There is in prakriti iccha sakti, kriya sakti and jnana sakti. If jnana
is kept out and only iccha (desire) is the impelling force behind your kriya
(action), then you get into trouble, you make all manner of mistakes and act
foolishly. It is only alter you bring in jnana and purify your iccha that
your kriya becomes a liberating force.

Action, purushartha, is never undesirable. The whole of the voluminous advice
and admonition given by the great Brahmarishi Vasishtha to Maryada Purushottama Bhagavan
Sri Ramachandra in the great treatise Yoga Vasishtha ultimately declares the supremacy of purushartha,
right action, engaged in with knowledge which gives it a proper direction.

"Therefore, O Arjuna, engage in action, but not with folly. Engage in action with
wisdom-unattached, recognising all things, yet not becoming involved in delusion with
them." Thus is the message of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita for each and every individual
soul engaged in working out its karma and moving towards the great goal of
God-realisation upon this earth plane.

Act you must, willy-nilly. But, if you do not invoke wisdom and act wisely, you will
get caught. Therefore, unfold the wisdom within and, infilled with this wisdom, engage in
activity. Let wisdom purify your desires, make them all dharmic. Purified desires
are not obstacles on the way to God-realisation. Let all your desires be dharmic, spiritual,
divine, God-oriented desires. Thus purifying your antahkarana (inner being) by
wisdom, with the fire of wisdom, engage in wisdom-filled activity. Perform all activities
with wisdom, with expertise and rise above the binding force of action, being detached
within, anasakta.

In this way, Arjuna is gradually made to realise that behind his apparent words of
rationality and logic, there was really the weakness of silly sentiment, not any great
knowledge much less wisdom. He is made to come to his senses and recognise his inadequacy.
Consequently, he begins to ask questions which are more rational and sane, more
appropriate and suitable. And then Krishna takes a real interest in leading him on to an
increasingly higher awareness of knowledge. Until that, Krishna brushes aside all his
queries. Krishna tells him: "You are ignorant, yet speaking seemingly high words of
wisdom."

After that correction, Arjuna comes to his senses, realises that his feelings have
carried him away and that his thinking was neither logical nor rational. He then requests
Krishna: "Please teach me. I have been deluded. I have been overcome by karpanya
dosha (weakness of heart). My chitta has become completely dharmasammudha (confused
about dharma). Now, please teach me."

Thus, in the first chapter, the situation prepared the ground for the Gita jnana-upadesa.
In the second chapter, Arjuna himself prepares the ground. He makes himself receptive.
He now wants to listen.

In this world, people are troubled by various kinds of afflictions. Some afflictions
are inflicted upon us by other forms of life-infective bacteria, disease-carrying insects,
bedbugs and so forth. Even so-called innocent and beautiful flowers can produce pollen
which may cause acute asthma or hay fever in some people. Dysentery, cholera, amoebiosis
and so many other diseases are inflicted upon us by other forms of life.

Then there are other afflictions over which we have absolutely no control, such as
earthquakes, tornadoes, tidal waves and volcanic eruptions. There can be too much rain
causing floods, or too little rain resulting in droughts and starvation. Thousands can die
in a severe heat wave. These are natural forces which afflict mankind and have been
afflicting him since the dawn of creation.

But, terrible as these afflictions are that come to us from the operation of natural
forces and from other forms of life, there is a third form of affliction which is an even
greater menace, a greater problem. Atmajanita tapa (self-created sorrow),
afflictions which are not inflicted upon us by anything exterior, but afflictions arising
from our own psyche can make us suffer acutely and intensely. Our jealousy, envy,
intolerance, anger, passions, infatuated attachments and delusiona, fears, anxieties,
hatred and ill-will can all consume us and throw the mind into a state of terrible
agitation and deprive it of peace. Thoughts of revenge, frustration, dejection,
depression, melancholia and disappointment do not come to us from outside.

Outside factors may have a ten percent part to play by stimulating or triggering off
certain of these states, but the truth is that they abide within. If they are not there
within, then no outside factor will be capable of stimulating them. You must grasp this
point. If the negative emotions, sentiments, moods, attitudes or states of mind are not
within, then any number of outer factors may be there, but they will leave the person
unaffected.

Therefore, this third type of affliction, adhyatma tapa, comes from one's own
self, one's own psyche, one's own mind. We create pleasure and pain, happiness and misery
by allowing our interior to be thrown out of serenity, balance and stability. We create
the affliction for ourselves by throwing a certain reaction from our interior towards
something exterior. If we refuse to react, the exterior factor has no power over us.

So, this third type of affliction or tapa can afflict you at any time, in any
place. If an earthquake or tornado occurs and you are not nearby, then you are not
affected. You only read about it in the newspaper or see it on TV. But you carry the
source of the third type of affliction with you always. You are one with it; it is one
with you twenty-four hours of the day and night. You have to deal with it. And there is no
escape unless you know the art and science of changing yourself, becoming immune to outer
factors, rising above them, transcending them and letting them be. Otherwise, this is
something that is inbuilt and part and parcel of your personality. It is always present to
harass you unless you come to terms with it, change it, educate it, alter it, conquer it,
subdue it. Do anything, but it is necessary to deal with it in such a manner that it is no
longer able to produce these types of afflictions within you.

So, Arjuna was suffering intensely in an acute state of this third type of affliction, adhyatma
tapa. In the beginning he was overconfident: "I will show them, I will teach them
a lesson. O Krishna, take me to the middle of the battlefield and stop the chariot in
between the two forces." Little did he know that by doing this he was going to
experience exactly the same situation inside-in between two forces. On the one side he had
a sense of duty to the Pandavas and their forces and on the other, a sense of compassion
and of attachment to the Kauravas and the forces assembled together on their side. He was
torn with conflict, with conflicting emotions and ideas. He made himself miserable. He
became a total wreck for the time being, suffering both a physical as well as mental and
nervous breakdown.

This was because he took all these mental conditions, these strong emotions and
sentiments to be real, to have some reality, sat. And he thought himself to be the
experiencer of all these terrible ups and downs that were taking place inside the antahkarana.
He identified himself with them. He thought: "This is happening to me,"
because at that time he was in a state of ignorance of his own true nature. He had no jnana
of his svarupa which is nitya and nirupadhika (eternal and
without attributes), which has no body, no mind, no intellect, no ahamkara (ego),
no memory, no senses. It is beyond the body, the senses, the pranas and the
four-fold interior instrument consisting of the mind, intellect, ego and memory.

Arjuna did not know it. Therefore, he thought that these passing phenomena were real,
whereas in fact they had no reality. They were the product of maya; they were
simply illusory things. Reality was his Self. But his entire interior was clouded, so he
took the passing, the evanescent, the unreal, to be the real. All these silly sentiments
and moods became for him a tangible reality. And his own reality, which is always above
and beyond, the paramatma tattva, the nityasuddha, nityamukta, the eternally
pure, eternally free, of the very nature of ananda, was to him a myth. He had no
awareness of Reality. He took the unreal to be the real and allowed it to affect him in
such a terrible way-weeping and wailing, profuse tears flowing out of his eyes, throat
choked with emotion.

In an instant, the great World Teacher, Lord Krishna, recognised the situation, the
source of his delusion. He thought within Himself: "I must give him the right
knowledge. I must make him aware of what he is. I must bring about an eradication of this
state of ignorance, of this ajnana and avidya." And so the first
sentence He speaks is: "You need to get rid of this ignorance. You are speaking
wisely, but you are in a state of ignorance. You are speaking apparently very wise words,
but you are doing something very foolish. You are grieving for that which should not be
grieved for."

Therefore, right at the very commencement, Lord Krishna diagnoses Arjuna's state as
being due to ignorance, to a lack of vidya, a lack of jnana, a lack of a
proper perspective of what is real and what is unreal, what is sat and what is asat.
Arjuna is taking the unreal for the real and allowing himself to be terribly affected
by it. He has forgotten his own reality. If only he had a glimpse of it, he would never
succumb to such a mood, such an abject state.

Therefore, Krishna begins by telling Arjuna what he really is. He starts by telling
him: "Your delusion is because you are thinking that these beings in front of you are
perishable, that they can be killed, they can die, that you will destroy them and create anartha,
great chaos. Let Me tell you, never were these beings ever not. Neither you, nor I,
nor these beings were ever non-existent at any period of time. We have always been. And
never shall we be non-existent at any time in the future.

"We shall always continue to be, because we are eternal; we are beginningless and
endless, eternal and imperishable. That is what we are, you and Me and all these beings.
So give up this deluded notion that anyone is being killed or that anyone is killing. Who
can kill whom? It is ignorance. Those who do not know the reality of things, the truth
about being, existence, they alone think someone is killing and someone is being killed.

"All these beings are eternal sparks of Divinity. Bodies come and go. Just as a
person casting aside worn-out garments takes on new ones, even so the dweller within the
body casts aside a worn-out body and takes on a new one. What reason is there to grieve?
It is a transition. We close our eyes in death for a little while and then wake up into a
new life. So why upset yourself in this manner?"

Thus, in ever so many ways, He brings home to Arjuna the central truth of Vedanta-the
immortality of the inner Spirit, the imperishable nature of the atma tattva. It is avinasi
(indestructible). Nothing can happen to It. It can never be put out of existence.

Arjuna asks many questions. All the questions are answered and his doubts are cleared.
Again and again the necessity of being firmly established in this knowledge, if one really
wants to succeed in life, is brought home. Otherwise one will be at the mercy of every
little passing experience that afflicts one. Experiences descend like waves battering
someone who is trying to swim across a storm-tossed ocean. This is inevitable. This is the
world of dvandvas (the pairs of opposites) and ever-varying experiences. The pairs
of opposites are always there. If there is day, there is night also. If there is joy,
there is also sorrow. If there is pleasure, there is also pain. If there is success, there
is also failure. It is inevitable. Face them boldly. They cannot touch you or afflict you.
You are the ever-stable, never-changing atma tattva.

One who has thus realised, who has become established in this inner state, him nothing
can touch. Not all the afflictions in the world can touch that being. Be in that state,
ever serene, ever untouched, ever calm, ever stable!

Only such a being, who has become firmly established in the truth of his eternal,
imperishable nature, only such a being is a truly successful person in life. He has
already attained victory over life. Life cannot devastate that person. Life cannot shake
up, agitate, confuse or delude him. Life can come and go; he will remain ever stable, like
a rock, knowing that all things are passing except the Self within.

Everything here is perishable, evanescent, transitory, subject to decay and
dissolution. The being who has seen this realises the pettiness of all desire, the
uselessness of all things, the foolishness of running after pieces of glass when a
priceless diamond is his birthright. Those who do not realise this take the unreal for the
real. And mystics have very strong words to say about them: "A great wonder it is in
this world of men, that discarding the life-giving nectar of immortality, the very
ambrosia, they are running after poison which brings about death. They throw away a
priceless jewel for the sake of a piece of glass. Wonder of wonders!"

When this folly of running after these petty, perishable things dawns upon a person of
deep reflection, then that person clearly sees that his foolishness is no good. He feels:
"This does not become me who am an amsa (part) of Isvara, Who is the very form
of absolute knowledge, wisdom consciousness, jnana svarupa isvara."

When we are the essence of, part and parcel of that Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, how dare
we manifest ignorance in our life? How shameful, how ignoble, how pitiable it is! Whatever
mistakes and follies that we might have, in ignorance, committed are past and gone. We
should once and for all forget them. We should now firmly resolve not to commit them in
the future. We should endeavour to be always alert, awake and vigilant at every step, at
every moment, at all times and in all circumstances. We should endeavour to keep ourselves
armed with discrimination and sublime thoughts.

After Lord Krishna describes to Arjuna how a person who has become established in the
knowledge of himself is able to maintain an absolutely undisturbed state of serenity
amidst the ups and downs of life, Arjuna asks: "How does this person behave? How does
he speak? How does he deal with others? What is his nature? How does this model person,
who can be kept as an adarsa (ideal) for me, go through life?"

It is here that the Lord has given to us a precious gem, just like the one in the
latter part of the twelfth chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. In the concluding eight
verses of the twelfth chapter, the subtle secret of the Lord's own concept of what real
devotion is, who a true devotee is, is revealed to us. Even so, in the latter part of the
second chapter, there is this classical description of the person who is firmly and ever
established in the inner wisdom. That avastha (state) of being established in inner
wisdom makes one look at the petty, puerile nature of outer things and to feel that it is
not worthwhile to allow these petty outer things to upset one or to allow oneself to run
after them.

It was these concluding verses of the second chapter of the Gita, the sthitaprajna
lakshana slokas, that the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, a living sage of his
own era, reverently listened to throughout his life, without missing one single day. Twice
a day, at his prayer meetings, these verses describing the nature of one who is firmly
established in wisdom were recited and Mahatma Gandhi would sit, all attention, in
silence, serene, like a Buddha, absorbing the meaning of each word. That is how his
interior was built up and became what it was. That serenity was never lost. He was ever
established in a higher state of divine consciousness, spiritual consciousness.

The central declaration, the central experience of Vedanta is the immortality of the
Self in the individual. It is the divinity of the innermost Spirit indwelling the material
body, the physical body-ajo nityah sasvato'yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire (Unborn,
eternal, changeless and ancient, the Self is not killed when the body is killed). This is
the culminating declaration about the immortal, imperishable nature of the Spirit within,
the third dimension of man, the other two being the physical and the psychological. The
spiritual dimension, the real dimension, is something that is immortal, imperishable,
eternal and divine. To be established in this truth of our real nature is to grow in
strength day after day, is to grow in fearlessness day after day, is to grow in a state of
unperturbable stability day after day.

And it is only when you are established in this interior state of stability that you
can truly act in an effective manner in this outer world. In all changing circumstances,
trying to act in a way that the situation requires at that particular point in time, be daksha
(proficient, apt). Always be in a state of full knowledge, full awareness, that there
is something else that is acting, a mechanism is acting. Be established in the knowledge:
"The forces that operate the mechanism are the three-fold gunas, which are a
part of prakriti to which this mechanism belongs; whereas, within that I am the
unaffected witnessing consciousness. I am the witness. I apparently do, but in the midst
of my apparent doing, I am really the actionless witness beyond time and space. Indriyas
act amidst their objects. The three gunas are doing many things. But seated in
their midst, I am the silent, unaffected, detached witnessing consciousness." This is
the secret of true karma yoga. It is the secret of apparently being active as the
situation demands and yet at the same time being fully aware of what you are, never losing
the awareness of your true transcendental nature, which is beyond the body, senses, prana,
mind and intellect.

This is the call of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita to every sadhaka as he is moving
towards his goal of God-realisation. Unless we learn the manner of living in this world
upon the Gita-spirit, Gita-ideal, we will lose our way. We will get caught and entangled.
Always assert: "Nothing can entangle me. Never can I become entangled in anything,
because I am the immortal, ever-free Soul, always one, secondless." It is this
interior awareness that makes one go through life amidst the many and yet rooted in the
One.

This Gita-awareness within and the Gita-vision of this changing world, the need to be
in the midst of the field of action but yet maintain and retain one's awareness of being a
serene witness, is absolutely essential to all sadhakas who, being in the world and
of the world, have to move towards the great Goal. It is all the more essential in these
changing times when human society has changed so vastly. Conditions are not always
conducive, helpful and favourable to this interior journey of the soul towards its eternal
Source. There is a lot of distraction and a lot of disturbance. In the midst of all that,
serenity is to be maintained.

It is only the vision and the spirit of the Gita upadesa of the second and third
chapters that will enable us to be in the midst of activity and yet be serenely poised in
the Self that is actionless and changeless. That alone abides; all else passes on.

"I shall be rooted in the Eternal and function in the non-eternal. I shall abide
in the Divine-God in me and I in God." Thus may you reflect and contemplate upon the
Gita ideal of life in this world and the Gita ideal of action in the midst of this
ever-changing phenomenal situation. May you reflect deeply upon this and create an
awakened interior within, so that the world is not able to affect your sadhana, so
that your sadhana goes on unhampered in spite of the distractions outside, because
you ever abide in the Self.

May the Lord, Jagad-Guru, Gita-Acharya, Bhagavan Lord Krishna, the World Teacher,
shower His divine grace upon you and may His grace manifest within you as this awakened
spiritual awareness and as the ability to act with expertise, so that in the midst of
action you still maintain an abidance in the ever-actionless Reality within, so that you
are able to be actionless in the midst of action.

May God's grace manifest within you as the heightened awareness and elevated, uplifted
consciousness of the Reality. May you abide in that, and may you move through this journey
of life as an anasakta karmi, a detached actor. Always think: "Action is going
on. I am not attached to it. I am aware that I am not the actor." May His grace
manifest within you as this inner perception and the inner awareness, the inner
consciousness, which is the key to successful karma yoga together with your bhakti,
jnana and dhyana.